Hate crime encourages D.C. church to open doors to Trump protestors

Racist graffiti instigates anti-Trump sentiment in Washington, D.C.’s Episcopal community

WASHINGTON–The Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Silver Spring, Maryland announced that they will house anti-Trump protestors for the Inauguration and for the Women’s March after Trump supporters vandalized their property with hate-speech; nonetheless, the church has not had any takers.

On Nov. 13, Dr. Robert Harvey, the Rector of the church, entered church property an hour before 8:00a.m. service and found graffiti reading “Trump Nation, Whites Only” on an external wall of the church. The vandals relayed the same message again on the back of a sign promoting the church’s service held in Spanish. The defaced sign, which faces the highway, was also ripped and slashed.

“I saw it on Facebook, after the Bishop posted it,” Tracey Henley, the Parish Administrator, said. “It was obvious that the Bishop was calling for everyone and his brother to come show solidarity at the Spanish mass. So, I figured I probably better go.”

According to Henley, the church did not have any security cameras in the area to catch the graffitists. Nonetheless, the predominately nonwhite church got revenge of their own by leaving the messages of hate and welcoming media.

“Whatever [the vandals] intended to do, it backfired,” Henley said. “We’ve had international outpouring. We’ve even heard from Trump supporters who said, ‘I’m voting for Trump, but I didn’t sign up for this.’”

Although the church received coverage from around the world, the outpouring of the community was even more significant. A member of the community power washed the graffiti on the external wall for free; someone collected donations on gofundme.com to help pay for the damages; and an anonymous neighbor of the church crowdsourced funding for a large sign that says, ‘Silver Spring Loves and Welcomes Immigrants.’ To payback for the generosity the church received, they are offering free accommodations to anyone who needs a place to stay to protest the Inauguration or march in the Women’s March.

“We surely offered, but we haven’t had any takers,” Henley said. “Part of the problem is that we don’t have showers…we couldn’t come through with essential cleanliness.”

The church is still offering their space for meetings, luggage storage, a place to sleep, and parking for both the Inauguration and the Women’s March. They promoted the offer primarily through word of mouth within their own congregation and within congregations nearby. Henley said they also contacted the organizer of the Women’s March to spread the word.

“The Episcopal community in the area wants to keep our opposition strong, but try to stay low-key, rather than stirring up a great deal of emotion again,” Henley said.

To prevent another hate-crime, the church plans to get cameras and add extra lighting.

A representative for Donald Trump declined to comment; however, during an interview on 60 Minutes, Trump said he was “saddened” to hear that some of his supporters were committing hate-crimes against minorities.

“We understand that Mr. Trump did not encourage anybody to do this, but he certainly didn’t encourage the better angels of [the vandals] nature,” Henley said.

 

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University of Southern California